The Power of Defeat
Following Tottenham’s defeat to Liverpool in the 2019 Champions league final, Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino struggled to cope.
“I was so disappointed afterwards. It was difficult to stop crying. I tried to play golf after a few days… to hit the ball perfectly but it was impossible”
What Pochettino experienced was a unique sense of disappointment at missing out on Football’s most coveted prize: the chance of ultimate European glory and, consequently, a validation of his 5 years of service to Tottenham. Instead, the defeat proved a watershed moment. Just under 5 months later, his services were terminated after a torrid run of results in November. The loss was agonising enough but what’s more difficult for Pochettino to comprehend is the disparity between his expectations coming into the final and the eventual outcome.
“I think we were convinced and I was convinced that the final was going to go our way. That was completely in our minds. But no one is prepared after 30 seconds of the Champions League final to concede like that.”
The truth is there is no real answer as to why things don’t go our way, at least at the time of disappointment. In football, there’s an expectation that every fan, player or coach has about their club and its ability to produce results. We desire for things to go “our way”. And when things go in the direction we expect them to, we feel validated. But when the opposite occurs, we struggle to understand why victory evaded us at a moment we so desperately desired it.
Other coaches choose to see the humour in defeat, instead of endlessly dwelling of what could’ve been. Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren recently revealed how Jurgen Klopp consoled the Liverpool team in a self-deprecating manner after losing the 2018 Champions League final against Real Madrid.
“Don’t cry. Imagine how I feel after losing six finals!”
Was Klopp disappointed? Of course. But what separated both him and Pochettino is that the latter could not mentally recover in time to go again next year. This is not to suggest the former Spurs manager was inferior to Klopp in any way but rather highlights the differing mental recuperation times that humans have in response to adversity.
When we attach our self-worth or career value to certain outcomes which are, more or less, outside of our control, we run the risk of extreme disappointment that requires a longer mental recuperation time to get over. Here lies the profound power of defeat: the bewilderment at why the defeat happened in the first place and the endless soul-searching that follows. The first part requires a reflection detailed and sincere enough to examine the possible reasons as to why defeat occurred. Eventually, however, we reach the painful yet unclear conclusion that some things go our way and some things don’t. Whether it’s divine intervention or seemingly dumb luck, the outcomes we hope for just don’t materialise sometimes.
The second part is where true power emanates from. Understanding the inevitability of failure makes us much more invincible, especially in times of defeat. Had Spurs allowed Pochettino and his squad the necessary mental recuperation time needed to recover from the devastating loss than perhaps he would still be the manager of Tottenham today. The fact he no longer occupies the role demonstrates the power of defeat and the shaky realisation that in life, we can’t always get our way.
But if we accept that defeat is inevitable, we can equally accept that success is not far behind provided that any heartache and disappointment is set aside before embarking on a new task. Jurgen Klopp did just that, with Liverpool winning the Champions League 12 months later against Pochettino’s Tottenham.
Real winners aren’t defined by simply winning trophies. They are defined by many things, including their rationalisation of defeat as a necessary pre-requisite to success. Neither Pochettino nor Klopp should feel their work less validated just because they lost an important cup final. What they can feel instead, however, is a sense of pride at facing defeat and all the baggage that comes with it.
